Apparatus for folding and collecting in rotary printing presses



DIETRICH 2,935,449 OLDING AND COLLECTING IN ARY PRINTING PRESSES iledAug. 1'7, 1959 P. FOR F T F May 23, 1961 APPARA M- r N a v N FALLLWHETKIQH qTl bg United States Patent Paul Dietrich, Augsbnrg, Germany,assignor' to Maschi- I nenfabrik Angsbnrg-Nurnberg A.G., Augsburg, Ger-7 many, a corporation of Germany 1 This invention relates to foldingapparatus for crosswise folding and collecting of signatures in rotaryprinting presses, particularly in newspaper printing presses.

Folding apparatus are known in which the folding blade cylinder has thesame diameter as the plate cylinder of the rotary press, and in whichthe cutting cylinder, cooperating with said folding blade cylinder, andthe collecting cylinder have a diameter which is one half of saidfolding blade cylinder.

However, with high speed of the presses, considerable centrifugal forcesare experienced because of the small diameter of the collectingcylinder, which are very much prone to causing collected signatures tofly off the pins and to cause jamming in the folding apparatus. Furthermore the sharp curvature of the small collecting cylinder has anunfavorable effect in the same way with thicker products.

In another known folding apparatus the folding blade cylinder has adiameter which is one-and-one-half times the diameter of the platecylinder of the rotary press and is used at the same time as collectingcylinder. The collected signature remains on the surface of the cylinderduring the collecting process. Since the centrifugal forces becomesubstantially smaller in this design because of the larger diameter,even under high speed conditions the danger of flying of collectedproducts off the pins does not exist.

However, the shaft of the folding blade must be arranged eccentricallyto the center line of the collecting cylinder in this design, so thatthe folding blades can not protrude over the periphery of the collectingcylinder which is covered by the collected signature. From the eccentricarrangement of these two axis a very complicated and expensive designresults which frequently causes trouble.

It is intended by this invention to overcome these disadvantages. I

The invention consists in the novel parts, construction arrangements,combinations and improvements herein shown and described.

Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in parthereafter and in part will be obvious herefrom or may be learned bypracticing the invention, the same being realized and attained by meansof the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appendedclaims.

It is the basic object of this invention to provide means contriving asimple and sturdy arrangement of the operating cylinders of the foldingapparatus.

A further object of the invention is to provide means conducive totrouble-free folding and collecting at the highest printing press speed.

Furthermore it is an object of this invention to provide collectingcylinder means in a high-speed folding apparatus presenting a largecurvature.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for holding thefront edge of the signature to be folded in order to prevent overfoldingof the signature at low speed of the printing press.

2,985,449 Patented May 23,

Various and more specific purposes, features and advantages will clearlyappear from the detailed description given below taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings'which form part of this specificationandillustrate merely by way of example one'embodiment of the device ofthe invention.

In the following description and in the claims, parts will beidentifiedby'specific names for convenience, but such names are intendedto be as generic in their application to similar parts as the artwill-permit. Like reference characters denote like parts in the severalfigures of the drawing, which shows in a schematic way a cross-sectionof the folding apparatus,'.presenting a preferred embodiment by whichtheinvention may be realized.

Referring in -more detailto thedrawing, there is shown a paper web Wcoming down from a former folder 1, pulled and guided by pairs of pinchrollers 2a and 2b to the cross-folding and collecting apparatus,comprising a cutting cylinder 3 and a collecting cylinder 4.

In the cutting cylinder 3 which has the same diameter as the platecylinder of the printing press, are located diametrically opposed toeach other two rotating folding blades 5 and at a proper angle theretotwo cutting knives 6. Adjacent the cutting knives 6 are arranged tworows of paper pins 7 held in levers 17 fastened to shafts 27, themovement of which is controlled in the well known, conventional way, notshown in the drawing. The rotating folding blades 5 are tucking thesignatures between folding rollers 8, wherefrom the folded products dropinto the pockets of a fly delivery wheel 9.

The collecting cylinder 4 which cooperates with the cut ting cylinder 3,has a diameter which is one-and-one-half times the diameter of the platecylinder of the printing press, and which can carry three signatures onits periphery. To this extent the collecting cylinder has three rows ofpaper pins 10, held in levers 18 fastened to shafts 28, which can berocked in the well known conventional way, not shown in the drawing, inorder to hold and deliver the signatures to be collected. In order toprevent a double cutting of the tail end of the collected signature, theshafts 28 carrying the levers 18 with the paper pins 10 is periodicallymoved peripherally forward and backward by means of a second shaft 29having eccentrics 30 thereon so that at the time of the cutting, everypreceding collected signature is moved away from the knife. Adjacent tothe rows of the paper pins 10 are arranged the cutting bars 11 intowhich the cutting knives penetrate during the cutting process. It wouldobviously make no difference to mount the cutting knives 6 in thecollecting cylinder 4 and correspondingly the cutting bars 11 in thefolding cylinder 3.

Adjacent the cutting and folding cylinder 3 a brake roller 12 isprovided having at least one cam-shaped lever 14 which can be adjustedby a screw rod 13 and which is resiliently held against said screw rod13 by a spring 15. The brake roller 12 is timed in such manner that thecam face 16 of the lever 14 holds the free tail ends of the signaturesto be folded at low speed at the instant of folding.

While the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to acertain particular preferred example which gives satisfactory results,it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understandingthe principle of the invention, that various other changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention and it is intended therefore in the appended claims tocover all such changes and modifications.

What I claim is:

1. In a folding apparatus for collecting and cross-folding signatures ofa rotary printing press, the combination with a folding blade cylinderhaving two diametrically opposed rotating folding blades and two cuttingknives arranged between said folding blades, of a collecting cylinderhaving three cutting bars spaced apart for cooperating vvitlrsaidknives, three rows of lever-mounted paper pins, said paper pins beingarranged adjacent said bars means for moving said levers carrying saidpaper pins periodically peripherally back and forth, said bladescooperat ing with a pair of folding rollers, a -:brake.rolle1: fhavingcam-shaped levers resiliently mounted thereon; means in said brakeroller for adjusting the position of:said can 1 shaped levers, saidbrake roller-being locatedadjacent to said folding blade cylinder, andsaidcam-shaped levers cooperating with said folding blade cylinder intimed relationship. p .7 V V 2. In a rotary printing press, .a-foldingapparatus comprising a combined cutting and folding cylinder having tworotary folding blades mounted diametrically opposed to each othertherein and two cutting knivesarranged between said foldingrblades, acollecting cylinder havingzthrele cutting bars equally spaced apartmounted thereon; for icooperating with said knives, saidcollectingcylinder having :three rows of paper pins arranged adjacent:said cutting bars, means for moving said rows of paper pinsperiodically peripherally back and forth in timed relationship withtheoperation of said collecting cylinder, a brake roller having at leastone cam-shaped lever resiliently mounted thereon, means in said brakeroller for adjusting the position of said lever, said brake roller beinglocated adjacent to said combined cutting and folding cylinder, and saidlever cooperatingwith said combined cutting andfolding cylinder in timedrelationship; l a, 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS CraftsAug. 21, 1934

